Sand Lizards fall to OzarkOZARK — The Dardanelle Sand Lizards were defeated by the Ozark Hillbillies 7-4 on Friday. Dardanelle took a 3-1 lead after the third inning after Parker Witt racked up two RBIs on one hit for the Sand Lizards. Ozark scored two in the bottom to tie the game and took the lead in the fourth. The Hillbillies added another run in the fifth, before Dardanelle's Easton Carter was able to score on a grounder. Ozark replied with two runs in the bottom ...

Hector beats Atkins 9-7ATKINS — The Hector Wildcats defeated the Atkins Red Devils 9-7 on Friday as each team gathered 11 hits off opposing pitchers. Hector (7-3, 2-1 2A-4 Conference) took a 2-1 lead after the first inning and added five runs in the third and fourth inning. The Wildcats went up 9-1 in the top of the fifth, but the Red Devils came alive to prevent the blowout. Atkins scored four in the bottom of the fifth and two in the sixth and held Hector scoreles...

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Courier Sports StaffThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Campbell voted 2015 Tri-County Player of the YearRussellville Cyclones head basketball coach Codey Mann said he believes Andy Campbell is a better kid than an athlete when he found out Campbell had been voted the The Courier's 2015 Tri-County Male Basketball Player of the Year by area coaches and Courier staff — and that's saying a lot. Campbell scored 1,270 career points for the Cyclones and pulled down over 500 rebounds. As a sophomore he sank 77 3-pointers. As a junior he hit 69. As a sen...

Kirwa wins RussVegas in strideDaniel Kirwa was the overall winner of the 2015 RussVegas Half Marathon on Saturday — and it wasn't even close. Kirwa crossed the finish line in 1:09:24, just over five minutes per 13.1 miles of the race. Second place, Levi Nordmeyer of Siloam Springs, crossed the line nearly 10 minutes later at 1:17.12, followed by Jeremy Provence of Clarksville at 1:17:47 and Carson Miller of Dover at 1:18:14. But from where does Kirwa hail? "I'm from Kenya,...

White’s walk-off bunt gives Apaches 4-3 victoryPOTTSVILLE — A walk-off bunt by Jake White that scored Cavin Reed gave the Pottsville Apaches a 4-3 victory over the Dover Pirates on Friday at the Rev. Thomas G. Morris Sr. Athletic Complex. White, who came in as a pinch hitter, bunted the first pitch he saw up the third base line giving Reed just enough time to cross the plate. Reed’s heroics didn’t start there. After beginning the day 0-for-3 from the plate, Reed belted a triple to deep cen...

Atkins softball defeats HectorATKINS — The Atkins Lady Red Devils defeated the Hector Lady Wildcats 3-2 in international tiebreaker in eight innings. Both teams remained scoreless until Hector went up 2-0 in the sixth. Hector's Hannah Wilkinson reached on a fielder's choice. The Lady Red Devils went for the out at home, but came up short. Alyssa Millsap reached first on a drop strikeout that allowed Darci Fountain to score. Atkins evened the score in the bottom of the sixt...

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Courier Sports StaffThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Lady Lizards defeat ClarksvilleDARDANELLE — The Lady Sand Lizards took and kept their lead in the sixth inning of their 6-3 win over the Clarksville Lady Panthers on Thursday at Merritt Park. First-year Dardanelle head coach Lyndsey Hill was proud of the way her team battled back from adversity. "We fought back to win this game," she said. "We had a hard time at the beginning of the game connecting hits together to score runs, but my girls did a good job adjusting and drove...

Sand Lizards thump Hector 12-6HECTOR — The Dardanelle Sand Lizards scored eight runs in the final two innings of their 12-6 win over the Hector Wildcats on Thursday. "I was proud of our team for competing through the whole game against an extremely well-coached Hector team," Sand Lizards head coach Will McCrotty said after the game. Hector saw its 3-0 lead undone in the top of the fourth after Dardanelle took a one-run lead. The Wildcats went up 6-4 in the bottom of the fi...

Dawson brings in Plumlee to RHS footballJ.D. Plumlee said he knew taking the job as an offensive coordinator at Russellville High School (RHS) was a "no brainer" when Cyclones head coach Billy Dawson offered it to him. Working under Dawson was an experience Plumlee said he wanted. And why not? Dawson's creditials are undeniable. Dawson has 22 years of coaching experience spread across several schools — most recently and notably the Nashville Scrappers. Dawson won three state titles ...

Moyer strikes out 18 in Cyclones' winMark Moyer struck out 18 — that's six innings worth of batters — during the Russellville Cyclones' 6-1 win over the Alma Airedales on Tuesday at M.J. Hickey Park. Moyer gave up three hits and one earned run — a home run in the third inning —and walked three batters. After two scoreless innings, Alma took a 1-0 lead on a homer. Russellville (4-7, 2-3 7A/6A-Central Conference) tied the score in the bottom of the third, then took a 3-1 lead in th...

Cyclones fall to CatholicLITTLE ROCK — The Russellville Cyclones baseball team was defeated 4-2 by the Little Rock Catholic Rockets on Monday. Russellville (3-7, 1-3 7A/6A-Central Conference) plated one run in the first inning, but were outscored 3-0 across the next two. The Cyclones added a run in the fourth, but the Rockets answered in the bottom of the sixth to keep room to breathe. Campbell scored Mark Moyer in the first inning to give Russellville their only lead...

Pottsville topples Atkins 13-3POTTSVILLE — Wes McCrotty was glad to start this week with a win. The Pottsville Apaches shut down the Atkins Red Devils 13-3 in five innings on Monday at Rev. Thomas G. Morris City Park Athletic Complex. Monday's win was the first game of a rough week-long schedule for the Apaches, McCrotty said. Pottsville hosted Ozark on Tuesday, will host Dover on Friday and will play Dardanelle on Saturday in the annual Boot Game. "It's always good to win...

Tarte to throw first pitch at Boot GameDARDANELLE — Chris Tarte's face lights up when he talks about baseball — especially Dardanelle baseball. The Afghanistan veteran has been a volunteer coach for the ball club for the last two years. Tarte said Sand Lizards head coach Will McCrotty brought him in to teach the kids about overcoming adversity. And Tarte should know about adversity — he lost his leg from just below the knee to an IED explosion in 2011 while serving in Afghanistan. ...

Sturdivant voted 2014-15 Tri-County Coach of the YearDARDANELLE — Russell Sturdivant’s life changed three days before basketball season started. The Dardanelle Sand Lizards head coach welcomed his first son into the world at 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, then coached his first basketball game of the season on Nov. 11. Several months later, Sturdivant was voted 2014-15 The Courier’s Tri-County Coach of the Year by area coaches and Courier staff. Sturdivant said he was honored. “These are people I look up...

Cyclones swept by rival ConwayThe Russellville Cyclones baseball team was swept by the Conway Wampus Cats in a Friday night doubleheader at M.J. Hickey Park. But Russellville head coach Matt Long said he wasn't upset. For two straight losses, the head coach said his team got an immeasurable amount of growth against what he considered one of the top-three teams in the state. Russellville (3-6, 1-2 7A/6A-Central Conference) fell 7-6 in game one and 6-2 in game two. "We told ...

Cyclones place eighth at relays, Lady Cyclones 16thThe Russellville Cyclones and Lady Cyclones competed in the 60th Cyclone Relays on Thursday at Cyclone Stadium. Russellville head coach Charlie Goodman predicted his team would finish somewhere in the middle prior to the meet — he was right, give or take. The Cyclones combined for a score of 26.00 and finished eighth out of 22 teams. The Lady Cyclones scored 8.33 points for a 16th-place finish. The men’s side of the meet was won by Springdale ...

Lady Cyclones beat Gentry 3-0VAN BUREN — The Russellville Lady Cyclones soccer team defeated the Gentry Lady Pioneers 3-0 on Thursday. Russellville did its scoring in the second half, with the first shot coming from Rachel Prochazka with Katie Winberry on the assist 16 minutes left in the game. Bailie Bolanis scored the second goal unassisted. She also scored the third goal, this time assisted by Samantha Ibanez. Bolanis credited both goals to her sister, who was recently...

Pizzolato homers twice in RHS lossThere’s a first for everything, and Ashley Pizzolato picked the Lady Cyclones’ game against the Conway Lady Wampus Cats to smash the first — and second — home run of her career. Pizzolato homered in the first inning to put the Lady Cyclones up 1-0 and again in the fifth to help pull Russellville within one run, but Conway put its paw down in the sixth and claimed a 13-7 win over the Lady Cyclones. Russellville (1-4, 0-2 7A/6A-Central Conferenc...

Record breakerRussellville seventh-grader Cole Hathcote won the pole vault and broke 39-year old Russellville Middle School record with his vault of 10'6 at the Gale Relays held Wednesday at Cyclone Stadium. The original record was 9'6.